Shibrogane
Aleksy dumped his clothes in the washer, added soap, banged it closed, and only then noticed the unfamiliar teenager behind him. A little red at the prospect of someone he didn’t know seeing him in a bad mood, he wanted to snap at her. Logic prevailed, though, and he managed to pull up a smile when he realized that of course this must be Teide. He’d been warned she would be hanging around Florence Court while the paperwork for her new identity was being done.
“Hello,” he said. “You are Teide. Aren’t you?” He crossed the space between them and held out a hand--slightly formal, perhaps, but he didn’t want to leap into the hugging yet--for her to shake. “I am Camlann. Aleksy, I mean. Have you been well?”
“Hello,” he said. “You are Teide. Aren’t you?” He crossed the space between them and held out a hand--slightly formal, perhaps, but he didn’t want to leap into the hugging yet--for her to shake. “I am Camlann. Aleksy, I mean. Have you been well?”
Jenna was figuring this whole civilian thing out. She knew how to take the bus from the Laney’s apartment to the library, and from the library over to Florence Court, where Anabel was helping her get all set up as a legal person again. That apparently involved a lot of work on Anabel’s part and not very much on Jenna’s, so she spent a lot of time on the couch in the rec room reading her library books. She was almost through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets right now - Gemma had been adamant about the importance of these books, and Jenna wasn’t about to let her down.
That, and they were super good.
She wasn’t even really paying attention to the guy doing his laundry until he started talking to her. “Yes,” she said, eyes widening. Its okay, she reminded herself. If they’re in the building, that means they’re safe. “But, um, I’m called Jenna when I’m like this,” she said, putting the book aside so she could stand up and shake hands.
Camlann, he said, and her expression brightened significantly. “Why are we only shaking hands?” she asked, confused. “I thought we were better friends than that. I thought I was your sister.”
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Jenna. It struck very close to Jana, thought Aleksy, but maybe that was a good thing. Maybe this was a second chance… he could do right by this sister when he couldn’t by Jana. “Hello, Jenna,” he said, fixing the name and the face in his mind.
At her prompting, he pulled her into a hug. He was smaller than she, which was the unfortunate truth of his life, but she was still his sister and he was so glad to see her safe. It wasn’t a foreign emotion, but it was still rare enough that he wanted very little more than to stay right there, forever.
He couldn’t do that, though. Impropriety. “Tell me how you have been,” he prompted, letting her go. “Hvergelmir has been kind to you? Nicholas Eglamore has been answering your questions? Have you met Avalon Page yet?”
At her prompting, he pulled her into a hug. He was smaller than she, which was the unfortunate truth of his life, but she was still his sister and he was so glad to see her safe. It wasn’t a foreign emotion, but it was still rare enough that he wanted very little more than to stay right there, forever.
He couldn’t do that, though. Impropriety. “Tell me how you have been,” he prompted, letting her go. “Hvergelmir has been kind to you? Nicholas Eglamore has been answering your questions? Have you met Avalon Page yet?”
Jenna sort of flopped into the hug, and she buried her face in Aleksy’s shoulder for a little bit and just breathed. He smelled like laundry soap and body wash - why had she expected him to smell like his aura felt, like blood and bone and gunpowder?
He stepped away. She frowned very slightly, and then the moment passed. “I’ve been very good,” she informed him. “Hvergelmir has been really nice to me! And I went to my Wonder! It was beautiful”
She held her hand out excitedly, showing off her rose gold signet ring, its symbol of the mountain and the star. “I got a ring like you have, so I can send messages now! And I… I haven’t seen Avalon yet.” She frowned. “I know she’s here somewhere, I just haven’t seen her.”
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"You should write to her," said Aleksy. "She... They have told you what happened to her?" At the shake of Jenna's head, he sighed and took a moment instead to examine her signet. "Your ring is beautiful, Jenna."
He organized his thoughts and said, "She was sick. Very sick. The Negaverse betrayed her, I believe. She was frozen in crystal--as those two Generals in the main hall were--and left to her fate. Someone intervened, but... The cost was every memory she had, and all of her power."
Someone had to tell Jenna, he reasoned. "She will not remember you. I am sorry."
He organized his thoughts and said, "She was sick. Very sick. The Negaverse betrayed her, I believe. She was frozen in crystal--as those two Generals in the main hall were--and left to her fate. Someone intervened, but... The cost was every memory she had, and all of her power."
Someone had to tell Jenna, he reasoned. "She will not remember you. I am sorry."
Jenna smiled shyly and pulled her hand back. She twisted her ring bashfully. “No,” she said. “No one explained.” She’d sent a letter the night of her purification, when she was still Astrophyllite, but she’d assumed it had never been received. Maybe - maybe it had been delivered after all, only Avalon hadn’t known what to make of it?
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” she asked, feeling stung. “Natron didn’t. He said she was dead and maybe he didn’t know but - even you didn’t tell me, and you knew what she meant to me. How long have you known she’s alive?”
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“I doubt Natron knew,” said Camlann. As for why he’d never done anything, he… wasn’t sure how to explain. He hadn’t wanted to pressure her, that was true, but he should’ve told her once he knew she had come to purification on her own. “I did not want you to feel pressured. I was not sure you would believe me, after the way our first meeting after my purification ended. And before that… I thought it would hurt you. To know that, however unwillingly, she had left.”
He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. “Before, she was… Do you remember the first concussion I had? the black eye? That was her. She does not think before she destroys chaos, Jenna. I did not want to put you in danger.”
He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. “Before, she was… Do you remember the first concussion I had? the black eye? That was her. She does not think before she destroys chaos, Jenna. I did not want to put you in danger.”
Jenna nodded. She’d kept her powered memories, after all, and everything that went hand-in-hand with that. “I thought her Wonder killed her,” she said, staring down at her feet. She’d been so sure of it - or was that Natron talking? It was hard to tell sometimes, what conclusions she’d reached on her own and what things she’d been told. Chaos had made those dark days clearer, and without its influence she had difficulty tracking her own logic. Things swirled together in a dark fog.
“I - I told Atë to give her planet to Chaos, because I thought it would kill her,” she said, cheeks burning with shame. Now she wasn’t so sure - what if she’d set something terrible in motion?
“You really think Avalon would have killed me?” asked Jenna, her voice a little shaken. “She loved me.”
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He shook his head. “I do not pretend to understand what happened,” he told her. “I know only what I have been told. But I do know she came very close to being dead there, forever.” Only the timely intervention of the woman who was Jenna’s princess had saved Jenna’s mentor. It was an amusing byproduct of circumstance.
“She still loves you,” he said. “But she is very afraid, and very angry, at Chaos. I have no doubt she still loves you.”
“She still loves you,” he said. “But she is very afraid, and very angry, at Chaos. I have no doubt she still loves you.”
Jenna nodded, still feeling stung but trying to work past it. “Okay,” she said, twisting her ring around her finger. She wanted to change the subject now, she thought, to talk about something that made her heart race less anxiously. “Do you live here?” she ventured, and felt dumb. Of course he lived here. He was doing his laundry in the basement.
“I mean, um.” She bit her lip and tried to think of another topic. “I don’t have to go back to school,” she said. “Anabel says that there’s a test you can take to show that you know everything you need to know, and getting me enrolled would be too hard, so I’m just going to study on my own.”
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“Yes,” he said. “The second floor.” It would be the first if they were in any kind of civilized place, but that was an Irinei thought, not an Aleksy thought. “My brother lives not far. About ten minutes’ walk east.” He smiled. “I could show you mine, sometimes. It is a bit empty.”
He accepted the change of subject, though. “Are you? Perhaps you could study with Avalon. She is still learning many things, I hear.” Such as: don’t put silverware in the microwave. Aleksy didn’t know what he thought of a princess whose first resort was the nuclear option, but he wasn’t going to say boo. Her intervention had saved a life. “If not, I am happy to help.”
He accepted the change of subject, though. “Are you? Perhaps you could study with Avalon. She is still learning many things, I hear.” Such as: don’t put silverware in the microwave. Aleksy didn’t know what he thought of a princess whose first resort was the nuclear option, but he wasn’t going to say boo. Her intervention had saved a life. “If not, I am happy to help.”
“I’d have to talk to her first,” said Jenna nervously. “And if she doesn’t remember me…” She trailed off. What would it even be like to see an Avalon who wasn’t her Avalon, who didn’t remember her or any of the things they’d been through together or…? She’d be lying if she didn’t say it was scary to think about. Maybe… maybe she just wanted to avoid her altogether for a while longer.
“I want to get back to my book,” she said, casting a glance behind her to where she’d left Harry Potter waiting on the couch. “Gemma really loved these. She wrote me a letter about how important it was that I read them again, so I’m trying to make her proud. So that everything she gave up for me will be worth it.”
Not that the girl she’d been before seemed to have had a particularly good life, but it was something.
“I’m a really slow reader, though,” she said, making a face. “I like the book! I like it a lot! But it’s taking me forever. You knew me before - was I always like this?”
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Aleksy nodded, understanding. “We will play it by ear. Perhaps she will come find you.”
He pushed himself up off the couch. “You were,” he said. “But that is fine. It is normal, and everyone takes time. Your pace reflects nothing about you. Do you understand?”
He pushed himself up off the couch. “You were,” he said. “But that is fine. It is normal, and everyone takes time. Your pace reflects nothing about you. Do you understand?”
It took Jenna a moment to nod. His answer seemed defensive somehow, and worried again about what a terrible life Gemma must have had. “Yes,” she said. “I - I know that she went to that school for girls who’d done bad things?” She knew, because when she’d first let go of Teide’s glamour, she’d still been wearing her old self’s Saint Magdalena’s uniform, with her old name sewn to the inside of the blouse collar.
“Do you know what she did to be sent there?” she asked. “Was she a bad person?”
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He shook his head. “Her mother had a hard time caring for her,” said Aleksy. “She was sent to that school to keep her safe, and protected, and away from people who could hurt her.” He reached out and brushed a lock of her pale hair behind one of her ears. “You do not need that protection now. We are here for you.”
“Her mother,” repeated Jenna, ghosting her hand over the same lock of hair. Gemma’s mother was her mother, too, but she couldn’t even recall her face. She wouldn’t recognize her on the street.
She felt momentarily sad.
No, she felt sad, period.
“Her mother thinks she’s dead,” she said, looking down. “I mean, I guess she is dead, sort of? I don’t remember being her. She’s gone and I’m here.” Aleksy had gone through the same thing, she thought. He remembered Astrophyllite, so he must have forgotten who he was before, too. “Do you know what I should do about that? About my - her - old life? What did you do about yours?”
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Aleksy sat back down. This conversation was clearly not ending, and he didn’t mind that, just--he wanted to be comfortable while discussing such weighty things. “Jenna, I…”
He’d never even told Astrophyllite this story. It seemed wrong to dump it on Teide, but the fact of the matter was that if he evaded this, he was sure that’d become one too many avoidances. To maintain her trust in him, he’d have to share the story. “There is no one left that I loved. Not as a civilian. There is you, yes. But you are… were… everything.” There were others, now. People he would kill to protect. Iouri, for instance. Colin. “My little sister--my blood sister--her name was Damijana. She was a senshi, and she woke up in St. Petersburg months before the Negaverse took me. They killed her. So, you see… there was no one for me to miss.”
He sighed. “I would recommend you speak to Oenone, for this. He remembers his civilian life, of course. But he knows how to handle this. It is his speciality.”
He’d never even told Astrophyllite this story. It seemed wrong to dump it on Teide, but the fact of the matter was that if he evaded this, he was sure that’d become one too many avoidances. To maintain her trust in him, he’d have to share the story. “There is no one left that I loved. Not as a civilian. There is you, yes. But you are… were… everything.” There were others, now. People he would kill to protect. Iouri, for instance. Colin. “My little sister--my blood sister--her name was Damijana. She was a senshi, and she woke up in St. Petersburg months before the Negaverse took me. They killed her. So, you see… there was no one for me to miss.”
He sighed. “I would recommend you speak to Oenone, for this. He remembers his civilian life, of course. But he knows how to handle this. It is his speciality.”
Jenna nodded, and all of a sudden, she felt very, very sad for Aleksy. “I don’t even know what her mother looks like to tell her what happened,” she said, sitting beside him and tucking her legs up under herself. “I mean, it would be a bad idea to tell her even if I did know, she’d just want Gemma back…”
She leaned just slightly to rest her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry about your sister,” she said. “The Negaverse can go kick rocks. They suck.”
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“They do suck,” he said, solemnly. “And we will stop them, you and I. Will we not?” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and said, “If you don’t mind, I would like to sit with you while you read. I have missed your company.”
She didn’t mind.
She didn’t mind.
